The Two Bucket Wash & Pat Dry Method for Spiderweb-Free Paint

This tip is for anyone who washes vehicles, but is especially for those with darker paint as they can require a fair amount of tender loving care to prevent those annoying paint defects or swirl-like marks commonly referred to as "spiderwebbing."

The process is very simple and straight forward. Take two buckets, fill one with quality automotive car wash and water, then fill the other with clean, clear water. Take your wash mitt, soak it in the car wash bucket, and wash a section of your car. Before you dunk your wash mitt back in the car wash, rinse it thoroughly in the clear water bucket. This will help remove dirt and contaminants that can cause swirls, scratches and spiderwebbing.

Once the washing process is complete, rinsing with a gentle stream, working side-to-side from the top-down will help the water sheet down the surface and leave less behind for drying.

Dry from the top-down, using lay-and-pull method to only allow the weight of the towel "drag" along the surface. If you do have to wipe with pressure, such as on the sides of the vehicle, fold the towel appropriately and use as little pressure as possible. With a darker cars -– because they show those spiderwebbing marks more than lighter colors -– lay the towel across the surface and “pat dry” with your hands, never moving the towel except by lifting to the next section.

I have this all over my vehicle, but I am the second owner and the paint already had the swirl marks on it before I bought it. I think the prior owner took it to car washes as the marks are more noticeable on the hood and trunk (it has a pano roof so I don`t notice it there).

My issue with this drying method described above is that I have the Mothers Drying Towel and to be honest, whenever I dry with it, I need to follow it up with a more plush microfiber towel. I did not know until I read this that I had to avoid putting any pressure on my car`s black paint, and I don`t think pat drying it with the Mothers towel will help. The towel does seem to have great capacity, but I find it leaves water spots behind, especially on glass, so I have to use it to get all the water up, and then follow up with something else.

So my question is, can you recommend a large, thick, plush microfiber drying towel that`s not this one:

https://mothers.com/products/microfi...fb0fef8b&_ss=r

Or can be used in conjunction with that one?

Another question, since I had no idea I had to lay off the pressure when drying, is there a video with more tips to link to? I`d have thought after decades of at least getting the wash aspect right, I didn`t need to worry so much about drying...!

The best drying towel I`ve EVER used is the Griot`s PFM towel. I`ve recommended it numerous times. Your drying issues will be solved. It`s well worth it.

Certainly hope so at $39 on Amazon :) But it`s worth a shot - gotta admit, a little disappointed in the *two* Mothers drying towels I invested in, which is a first for Mothers products on my end. Still worth it to sop up a good amount of water to start, but it can`t do the whole job.

I found the PFM to be worth every penny. I`d gladly buy it again.

Thanks Bill, I appreciate it - just ordered!

I also just re-read Jim`s post on drying and it appears I have been drying incorrectly using the Mothers towel. I don`t think it`s a bad thing to have multiple options, however, so I`ll see how the "lay and pull" method works for both. From the pictures on Amazon, it looks like the lay and pull is the preferred method for the Griot`s towel, as well.

I use that method, especially on the hood, with great results every time

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fju2112

I have this all over my vehicle, but I am the second owner and the paint already had the swirl marks on it before I bought it. I think the prior owner took it to car washes as the marks are more noticeable on the hood and trunk (it has a pano roof so I don`t notice it there).

My issue with this drying method described above is that I have the Mothers Drying Towel and to be honest, whenever I dry with it, I need to follow it up with a more plush microfiber towel. I did not know until I read this that I had to avoid putting any pressure on my car`s black paint, and I don`t think pat drying it with the Mothers towel will help. The towel does seem to have great capacity, but I find it leaves water spots behind, especially on glass, so I have to use it to get all the water up, and then follow up with something else.

So my question is, can you recommend a large, thick, plush microfiber drying towel that`s not this one:

https://mothers.com/products/microfi...fb0fef8b&_ss=r

Or can be used in conjunction with that one?

Another question, since I had no idea I had to lay off the pressure when drying, is there a video with more tips to link to? I`d have thought after decades of at least getting the wash aspect right, I didn`t need to worry so much about drying...!

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Yes to the PFM... worth every penny. Sounds like you got the large one. I like the medium ones for the side. The 16x16 are nice for spot clean up or if you like can dry the whole car with 2.

I use the drag method on vertical panels and i try to pat as much as i can on the side. I will wipe what i can’t with the 16x16 folded in 4’s


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Darn. Well, almost $80 into drying towels (for a grand total of two items), I`m not ordering the medium ones...yet :) Plus I do have the Mothers ones (two of those) and I didn`t even realize I wasn`t using them correctly.

This might sound silly, but there doesn`t appear to be a Mothers youtube vid of drying. I found the wash video, but I haven`t yet done a "lay and pull" dry on either car, and I`ll probably be tempted to use some pressure to get the water off, which I want to avoid. But what you describe above sounds like it should work; I do have a bunch of towels of various sizes now.

You can never have too many towels.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fju2112

Certainly hope so at $39 on Amazon :) But it`s worth a shot - gotta admit, a little disappointed in the *two* Mothers drying towels I invested in, which is a first for Mothers products on my end. Still worth it to sop up a good amount of water to start, but it can`t do the whole job.

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fju2112,

If you`re unhappy with our towels, shoot me an email to jimd@mothers dot com and we`ll work something out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill D

You can never have too many towels.

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Agreed. The more you have, the longer they’ll last.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill D

You can never have too many towels.

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Honestly, Jim, this may have been user error. I`ve since read the Drying post in more detail and realized that I need to try the lay and pull method. I don`t know how that one escaped me but I suppose I just always assumed getting the water off the car any way you could with the proper towel was fine. Even though I now have the Griot`s towels, next time I wash I`ll try the lay and pull method with the Mothers towels first and see how that goes.

What`s really burning me today is I lost the bunch of pads I bought a while back for my GC6 orbital buffer and had planned on doing a full detail on the Benz this morning - grrr! Now I need to figure out what pads I had bought for the rubbing compound & polish that are sitting in the garage, not to be used for at least one more weekend...

I finally washed my wife`s car again and had both the Griot`s Garage and a Mothers drying towel. Used both with the lay and pull method, and both worked great. I have to admit, I lose some patience on the glass so I folded the Mothers towel and wiped down without putting too much pressure.

The doors and other vertical panels are tough to dry with no pressure, so I just try to "place" the towel with one hand and use the other to drag along the paint with as little pressure as possible. I`ve always found that the area underneath the side mirrors and sometimes the protruding door handles will sometimes drip water onto the paint below, well after the car has been given a couple passes with the drying towel, so I wipe that up a few minutes later. Otherwise, looks like I`m at least drying the way I should!